Second Chances
by WindyWords123
Summary: Summary: Robin gets a chance he's always dreamed of: a chance to save his parents. But time travel rarely works out well, and this time is no exception. Now he has to fix things before he simply fades away... Written in 2nd person.
1. Chapter 1

_You probably should have a fair understanding of comic books backgrounds if you're going to read this. It involves a lot of that. (Wikipedia works if you don't...) Also, this came (once again) from the YJ anon meme, but I lost the prompt. So, if anyone knows where that is... It has one fill already, if that helps. _

_Finally, this will update every day since I have everything written out, it has short chapters. There may be another version of this at the end, if there is, that's what this was supposed to be originally, but it morphed. _

_Summary: Robin gets a chance he's always dreamed of: a chance to save his parents. But time travel rarely works out well, and this time is no exception. Now he has to fix things before he simply fades away... Written in 2nd person._

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><p>It started (and ended) with a villain from the future. Not even a big-name one, you'd only fought him the once.<p>

Which century? It doesn't matter. You can't remember. You can't remember the villain's name; anything, really, except his face: The way he'd _leered_ and leaned in, close, too close. You'd backed away, you remembered, his breath was foul, stinking of some futuristic delicacy.

You'd heard his raspy voice before, in battle, but now it was soft, almost hypnotizing. Not truly hypnotizing, you don't think, but it had that kind of effect; it reeled you in.

"You have something you want to change, don't you?" He'd said, softly. You'd glared, of course. That was none of _his _business. "I can help you. Here, take this, you just have to reset to when you want to go to – " And then the police had arrived, and you'd vanished back into the shadows, and there was no time to refuse the small object he'd shoved into your hands.

You studied it, later, when you were supposed to be (_finally_) falling asleep. You shouldn't trust him. He was a villain. There was no reason he would help you. Accepting this went against everything Batman had ever taught you.

But yet... despite everything, if this small, ordinary-looking pocket watch worked...

You don't think about it any more. The thing's been set to the right time since a minute after you got it, so you just press the button on the side, squeeze your eyes shut, and hope for the best.

It works. Of course. It would have been better if it hadn't, but you don't know that yet, though you already suspect. But you're intentionally crushing that doubt, and under the flood of euphoria that comes from seeing Haley's Circus again _(working, still there, fliers for the Flying Graysons plastered everywhere) _it nearly goes away completely.


	2. Chapter 2

_To answer a question from an anonymous reviewer: second person is when you use 'you' instead of 'I' or 'he/she'. I is first person and he/she is third, which I expect you know but mayzwell be thorough, right?_

_Also, the mood may or may not begin changing this chapter. It may be next chapter. Or the one after. Yeah. That's not on purpose but I couldn't fix it myself so I just kind of gave up._

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><p>It's ridiculously easy to stop Zucco. In your nightmares, he's become the boogie monster, worse than the Joker, even though Batman put him away long ago. It's an eye-opener, how easy it is to knock him out: knee to the groin and a pressure point and he's gone. For a second, you want to do more, you want to <em>kill <em>him for what he's done, and it scares you. But you take deep breaths _(he hasn't done it yet, they're still alive, they're still __alive__)_ and you simply spit in his face. Mean, but not cruel.

And that's _it_. Nothing more. You tie him up and drop him outside the police station, and you're done. For a second you just there, wondering "What now?" Finally, you wonder what the world's like, now that you've done this, and you smile. You set your pocket watch to your time, press the button, and you're back.

You start typing on your specialized wrist computer immediately, searching out names.

And that's when you finally realize something is wrong.

Wally West gives you a few articles on a boy in Keystone City who won the state science fair several years in a row, apparently a genius in chemicals. And _nothing _in Batman's archives. You begin to get a feeling of impending doom and a quick search of "Kid Flash" reveals nothing except some speculations by gossip articles on whether Flash has a kid.

Miss Martian? More gossip on whether there's a "Miss" Martian Manhunter. Megan Morse gets hits but none of them are _your _Megan Morse. Artemis gives you a few websites dedicated to the goddess, a few to some book you don't care about... Basically, nothing, and this seems to be the trend. Roy – nothing, Kaldur – nothing, Superboy – nothing.

The feeling of impending doom has expanded and twisted into certainty, and you have an extremely bad feeling as you search "Dick Grayson".

There's a whole bunch of articles on the amazing Flying Graysons and especially their youngest member, Dick Grayson, and a tight feeling inside you eases just a little. Then you search "Robin".

Nothing. Freaking _nothing_. You're not quite sure what you expected, but somehow, this isn't it. You thought... somehow... you would become Robin anyway, even though...

But no. It all makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Batman doesn't adopt Dick Grayson because he doesn't need to be adopted. Without one of the unofficial leaders of the League starting the sidekick trend _(since Superman obviously isn't going to do it_) no one else tries. Speedy never got (basically) adopted. Kaldur never got a chance to see the surface world. Wally... well, maybe Flash was a bit tighter with the info about his accident. Miss Martian never got to see Earth, Artemis might very well be still under her father's control. And Superboy... oh god, what happened to _Superboy_? Do you even want to know?

This can't... you can't... you can't let the world be this messed up. You set the clock back to _that_ date again, and with hard eyes you press the button.

Then you get there. And you realize... you can't do this. You just _saved _them, and maybe it's selfish _(it is) _but you can't kill them again this soon. You just can't.

Choking back a sob, you watch yourself _–_ _that was me just a minute ago_ – knock out Zucco and you try to think. Your mind is fuzzy and it _shouldn't _be_ – _you've been trained by the Batman, your mind _isn't _fuzzy, ever. But it is now.

Finally, _finally_, you think of the answer. Someone else. _You _don't have to be Robin, necessarily, there just has to be _a_ Robin. Not you. Just someone.  
>But you have to find someone who can do it.<p>

Fate must be in a good mood today, because at exactly that moment, you run into Robin.

You just don't know it yet.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

You've been standing here for a good ten minutes, and you've just shut down your computer to contemplate it all.

So it shouldn't surprise it as much as it does when a tiny voice pipes, "Move, you big lump!"

You look down in surprise _(and how often do __you__, the incredibly tiny Dick Grayson, get to look down?) _and see a toddler.

Or, no, he's not a toddler. He's older than _that_... but he does seem very, very small. Not that you can talk.

"What are you doing here?" You ask. You're trying to sound somewhat comforting and genuinely curious, but it comes out harsh and the kid scowls at you. "None of your beeswax. Anyway, what are _you _doing here? You don't look very old!"  
>Despite yourself, you have to smile. This little kid looks adorable when he tries to scowl, and his obvious anger at you; that's cute too. Maybe when he's a bit older it'll be more intimidating, but on his small face... nope.<p>

"You're younger than me." You point out.

He draws himself up. "I'm _five and a half, _thank you very much! That's plenty old!"

You blink. "Uh, no, it isn't. Look, where are your parents, kid?"

He scrunches up his face so much you can't even tell he's scowling anymore. "Dead." He tries to glare at you, but with his face scrunched up that much, you can barely see his eyes.

It throws you for a loop anyways. You thought, at first, that this boy was a wayward child who'd just wandered away from his parents, although that's rare in Gotham. Most kids know better.

There's a flash of inspiration and soon you're dragging a protesting boy in the direction of Wayne Manor. You don't even know his name.

Ten minutes later, he's trussed up (in loose ties, you wouldn't want to hurt him, after all) with a note attached, roughly explaining the situation. For proof, the note alternates between all the languages you know – including a code that Batman developed just before he adopted you.

Plus instructions to hack the Batcomputer. In binary. Thorough has always been your middle name...

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><p><em>Note: I have no idea how old Jason would be in relation to Dick normally, but I'm pretty sure it's not three years. Sorry, if Jason had been any younger then... Well, I just couldn't see it. It's stretching it as it is. Oh, and I have literally no experience with Jason so he's probably off. Oh well.<em>


	4. Chapter 4

_So... I think I missed a day. So you get two chapters. :D_

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><p>Chapter 4<p>

You're just about to go back to your time to see if any of this has actually worked, when you see your left hand.

It's fading away.

And by that you mean you can actually see through your pinky. It's... well, terrifying, and for a second you just stand there.

You've heard a few stories where people time travel and, because of paradoxes, usually, fade away... But a few members of the League have time traveled before and thishasn't happened. Through the horror, though, you realize that it doesn't matter. It's happening and you have to make sure... make _sure_ everything turns out.

You waste a few more precious moments thinking and then you jump a year into the future as quickly as you can. Your memory is getting fuzzier every moment and you can't remember when, exactly, you met another sidekick, but you're pretty sure you met Roy first. And it seemed like not too long after Batman finally let you onto the streets, which was around a year, maybe. You hope.

You know that Roy was orphaned and raised by an Indian, the Indian's name having something to so with arrows. Funny how things work out. Chief or something... A quick search reveals that the name you were looking for is "Brave Bow". You were completely off. You wince.

But no time to feel sorry for yourself now, you have to get Roy to Green Arrow as quickly as possible. With Batman to start the sidekick trend, things might work out the way they're supposed to... but then again, they might not. Better just to hurry, hurry, hurry and get things back to the way they were, before you messed everything up so very badly...

You locate Roy. Brave Bow hasn't died yet... oh well, the timestream's gone to hell already, why not kill even more of it? So, since you're pretty sure it worked out last time, you kidnap him and write a quick note in code again. A more recently developed code. It says, "Me again. This one goes to Green Arrow." Then you drop Roy off (drugged senseless, of course) in Ollie's bedroom. Gotta keep them heroes sharp.

You don't even time jump this time, because last time you were paying attention and you thought you could feel your molecules slowly ripping apart. Well, maybe not. But even so, it wasn't _that _long after you met Roy that you met Wally, so things should be okay. Probably.

This time... Well, you know a bit more of Wally's backstory, him being your best friend and all, so you simply drop off a letter in the West mailbox that gives exact instruction on how to acquire superspeed (Barry's firewalls _suck_, really they do) in plain English this time, and a very, very brief explanation of why he should _definitely _follow these instructions. Very brief. And a footnote that says, "Oh, and show the back of this to Batman when you meet him, kay?" (invisible ink, of course.)

By this time you're feeling almost cheerful, despite the fact that your left hand is almost invisible and things slip through it half the time, and your right hand is getting there. Then, of course, you remember... You don't currently have any way to get to Atlantis. Or Mars, in a bit. And Artemis has always been secretive and you're not sure where Batman's files on her are, and what are you going to do about Superboy, anyways?

You take a deep breath. You'll figure it out...

Hopefully.


	5. Insanely Short Epilogue

Chapter 5

_Total cop out coming up, guys, it's mostly because those questions at the end of last chapter? Yeah, I don't know the answers. And I couldn't think of anything and really, this was originally going to be a very angsty oneshot so already much more time and effort than I expected (though not really *that* much but still) has been expended so yeah. Cop-out. This entire story, in fact, has gotten away from me and has not gone the way I planned and I only really like the beginning, but, hey, how many second person stories are there out there? So it has that going for it._

It all works out, in the end.

It always does, doesn't it?

You make absolutely sure everyone gets their sidekick and that works out, although not exactly the way you planned, in the end. You know because you checked (although by that time resetting your time machine clock was hit-and-miss, seeing as your hands were mostly intangible and the rest of your body was fading, too.)

And it was with a bittersweet smile on your face that you faded away completely...


End file.
